Glittering lakes, lazy rivers rushing down from the wild mountains to sneak through green fields toward the rugged Atlantic coast, Ireland is a fisherman’s dream made of a huge network of rivers and loughs, one of the last refuges for wild salmon attracting worlwide anglers every year. Thanks in part to its appeal to European aristocrats in centuries past, Atlantic salmon fishing has been dubbed the sport of kings because the perpetually tea-colored waters of the rivers, thanks to the peat deposits along their banks, host impressive numbers of returning Atlantic salmon. The Atlantic Salmon, “Bradán” in Gaelic, is a native Irish fish, and an elusive and complicated search for any angler, including the season, the weather conditions or the time of day. Salmon can be caught in Irish waters from January through to October and the biggest run of salmon begin in June but the‘Springers’, the magnificent spring salmon with an average of nine pounds are the most glorious thing for the anglers, especially on the fly. Currently a salmon over 20 pounds is classified as a specimen fish and only a small number of these are recorded annually.
The rugged beauty of the Atlantic coast is where you’ll find most of Ireland’s great fishing houses, luxury lodges specialized in fishing vacations. Ireland could be an easy and affordable angling experience if you know how, but it won’t be on the Internet, or you can pay expensive packages for the local knowledge of the established fisheries. Elegant georgian country houses as Newport House or Enniscoe House in Mayo County or Delphy Lodge in Connemara, where fly fishermen have been coming for centuries, known for some of the most inspiring landscape scenery in Ireland. Beginners and experienced anglers are strongly advised to hire the services of a "ghillie", something between an amazing butler on the banks of a river and a local guide that know the best flies, appropriate tackle and local fishing lore, ensuring the best fishing experience, and lot of amazing fishing gossip, without any name of course. On many Irish salmon rivers one cannot merely show up and begin angling, instead you must lease a beat which entitles you to fish a section of river for a predetermined amount of time. Any angler takes its place with proper etiquette, spaced every 50 meters throughout the pool, take two steps, cast, take two steps, and then return to the top of the pool and proceed through again.
Salmon angling in Ireland is much more than a fishing experience, is the discovering of romantic ruins of churches and castles, or Iron Age forts built before Christ was born and lakes where you may choose a different island every day, and a real and tough challenge with the King Salmon.